International Journal on Criminology Volume 2, Number 1, Spring 2014 | Page 35

Criminal State and Illicit Economy drug traffickers, usually in return for ordering Sandinista judges to allow traffickers caught by the police and military to go free" 53 . As for the neighboring Panamá, his former leader and CIA informant, Manuel Noriega, ousted by the United States in 1989 was first condemned for drug trafficking and money laundering and sentenced to 30 years imprisonment in Florida, reduced to 17 for "good behavior". Extradited to France, he was condemned to a seven years jail sentence for money laundering. He was extradited to Panamá in December 2011. North Korea Pyongyang has notably been accused by the U.S. government of counterfeiting its currency "apparently done to generate foreign exchange that is used to purchase imports or finance government activities abroad" 54 . Russia In a 2010 widely reported U.S. diplomatic cable released by WikiLeaks, a senior Spanish prosecutor investigating organized crime "gave a detailed, frank assessment of the activities and reach of organized crime (OC) in both Eurasia and Spain". For [Belarus, Chechnya and Russia] he alleged, one cannot differentiate between the activities of the government and OC groups". For him, Russian organized crime "exercises 'tremendous control' over certain strategic sectors of the global economy, such as aluminum" 55 . "[He] said that according to information he has received from intelligence services, witnesses and phone taps, certain political parties in Russia operate 'hand in hand' with OC. For example, he argued that the Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) was created by the KGB and its successor, the SVR, and is home to many serious criminals. [He] further alleged that there are proven ties between the Russian political parties, organized crime and arms trafficking. Without elaborating, he cited the strange case of the 'Artic Sea' ship in mid-2009 as 'a clear example' of arms trafficking" 56 . "He summarized his views by asserting that the [Moscow]'s strategy is to use OC groups to do whatever [it] cannot acceptably do as a government. As an example, he cited [an individual arrested in Spain], whom he said worked for Russian military intelligence to sell weapons to the Kurds to destabilize Turkey. [The Spanish prosecutor] claimed that [Moscow] takes the relationship with OC leaders even further by granting them the privileges of politics, in order to grant them immunity from racketeering charges" 57 . "[The Spanish prosecutor] said that he believes the FSB is 'absorbing' the Russian mafia but they can also 'eliminate' them in two ways: by killing OC leaders who do not do what the security services want them to do or by putting them behind bars to eliminate them as a competitor for influence. The crime lords can also be put in jail for their own protection" 58 . 53 Cable #63040, May 5, 2006. http://www.elpais.com/articulo/internacional/Cable/jueces/sandinistas/ponen/ libertad/narcos/cambio/dinero/elpepuesp/20101206elpepuint_37/Tes 54 CRS, North Korean Counterfeiting of U.S. Currency, June 12, 2009, 15 p. and 22 mars 2006, 18 p., International Herald Tribune, August 20, 2006 "North Korea linked to Asian Banks", Foreign Policy, September–October 2008, 61. 55 Cable #000154, February 8, 2010 http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/us-embassy-cables-documents/247712. 56 Id. 57 Id. 58 Id. 33